Itching to buy a new tool? What tools have you wasted money on?

[Steve Mathews]

One of those sitting at the computer in the morning with a cup of coffee itching to buy a new tool ... So I come across this Veritas Scraper Burnisher for Turners and looked at a few videos reviews of it and thought why not. After reading a few reviews posted on this forum I later realized it was a mistake, something that will just sit in a drawer and never be used. I have a good amount of those. What are your misguided purchases that never get used?

[Ron Selzer]

Powermatic Shaper 26, had it 35 yrs more less. have put less than a hour run time on it Was using an AMT 1/2" spindle in a wooden table with 1 hp motor. Most of the time running a 3/4" lock miter cutter, had to mount a bearing for the top end of the spindle to cut down on spindle deflection when cutting lock miters. Have not cut a lock miter with the shaper since I bought it used in the late 80's early 90's.
Kew Concepts Couping Saw Used it, don't like it, sits in a drawer.
Band Saws, Buy them and rarely use them. Have a 19", 15" 12" currently
Uniplane, always wanted one, got a great deal a few years ago, it is hooked up to dust collector been turned on once, never used yet. Edge sander and stroke sander, same way.
ShopSmith Mark V, have bought 3 or 4, one downstairs was shipped to Virgina Beach for complete check and rehab, at least ten years ago, never been plugged in since.
Wood planes buy them and never use them, won't sell them either. Wife has the real nice ones on display in front room.
When I was young built with really cheap tools, now have nice tools and rarely build. Sure is nice to have the good tools when I do want to build and I am physically able.
Be a nice tool auction when the time comes
Ron

[Cameron Wood]

I thought I should add pockets screws to the joinery options a number of years a go, and requested a kit for a gift.

Haven't used it once.

[Andrew Hughes]

My wasted buy was one of those jigs to drill dowels or mortises. I won’t mention the company because they are out of business still feel bad for them. I was going to mention cheap chisels but they do have a place to open paint cans.
Good Luck

[Bernie Kopfer]

Scroll saw. Discovered that fine detail scroll work was too much like what I did for a living,wanted a change not more detail work.

[Patrick C Daugherty]

Dowel Plates. I have had four, I make wonky dowels with all of them. Had to have one, tried it out with bad results. Sold it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat, have not sold last one cause I don't need to start looking for a new one.

[Mel Fulks]

Patrick, most of the dowel plates are just too thin. Get a piece of scrap steel that is at least an inch thick, drill holes , champher.

[Ron Citerone]

Biscuit Joiner. Glad I bought it used on CL for half price.

[Richard Coers]

All I have to do is use on tool a couple of times to make it worth the purchase. I've sold tools or machines over the years, and regret that way more than buying them.

[Mike Henderson]

DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. Hardly never used it and now that I have a Domino I never use it.

Mike

[Richard Coers]

DeWalt Biscuit Joiner. Hardly never used it and now that I have a Domino I never use it.

Mike
I made tens of thousands of dollars with my ELU biscuit joiner before anyone ever thought or dreamt of a Domino. I loved it so much I bought a new one when they stopped making the ELU. So I still have on brand new one in the box.

[stephen thomas]

When neander tools where still in live fleamarkets (rather than online) i bought way too many duplicates and like others, have a hard time making the effort required to sell.

When we were both a lot younger and i met my later bride to be, i bought a pressure pot sandblaster to blast equipment for re-painting. Before i met her, she painted rocks (She was/is actually an executive, this was relaxation, not "specialness"). Anyway, the first couple years i owned the sandblaster , she segued into sandblasting rocks and used it more than i did. Like the monument guys (tombstones, e.g.) A friend of mine had a monument business and did some work on the Vietnam Vets memorial on the Mall, so he fixed her up with info and supplies. Fast forward a half dozen years, we moved, combined households, and i bought her a rather large sandblast cabinet. I think she used it once in the past 25 years. I used it a couple times for equipment. Mostly it just sets in the cellar, and is often too clogged (from humidity) to just walk up and use without a lot of extra effort. It's big enough for an entire motorcycle frame, but most equipment is easier to blast in the great outdoors with the original pressure pot.

The machine i sunk the most into, purchase and rebuilding, for myself, is a Diehl 660 lumber jointer. I used to make a lot of custom flooring for specialty jobs, and it seemed to make sense at the time. There were also other reasons for me to prefer a lumber jointer over a straight-line ripsaw, and no space to fit both. The lumber jointer is one of the most fun machines to run with 2 people if you have a great pile of long lumber to straighten an edge before ripping, or as ripping progresses. It seems that not long after the acquisition, large flooring jobs dried up, and a decade and a half later i aged out of doing large work, for the most part.
It is even really handy for one man, trying to do the same task as opposed to operating a regular hand fed jointer, especially as i got older. It would really be fun and useful if you could feed faced and planed lumber through it, or panels for raising. Unfortunately, despite some Diehl literature to that effect, it is not practical because the feed chain inherently puts light, random dimples in the face of finished work. There needs to be a heavy sanding allowance on the face side. If there were more room in the shop, it would stay until my estate sale. But i've finally come to realize the space would be more useful than a rather large machine that sometimes does a small load of lumber once every few years, now.

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http://www.vintagemachinery.org/pubs/253/4694.pdf

Err... since it is for sale, let me swap hats and convey just how useful and labor saving it can be. If you have the work to run through it. :)

[John C Cox]

Lol... I suppose "Wasted" is relative. Probably the winner there is my own chisel test/quest. I've been through a whole lot of stuff that's out there, and the vast majority falls into what I classify as the "Average to poor" bin. After a lot of tests, I understand why Paul Sellers claimed the Aldi chisels were adequate/as good as a lot of what's out there... Yes, that is true... The trouble is that they're not objectively "Good," but rather are no worse than the brand names which raced headlong to the bottom. After way too many tests, too much time, and money spent, I've got some very definite preferences that really do run better than the vast majority. Some, like the Narex Richter are no surprise. Others might be a surprise. More disappointing, to me, were the losers like Two Cherries, Ashley Iles, and current production Marples.

It's sort of like the vast myriad of screwdriver bits that round off after driving 20-50 screw... Yes, that's where most of the market shakes out, but that doesn't mean it's good.... When I spend my money, I'd like to be the one deciding where in the price/quality spectrum my decision shakes out... but modern manufacturers and marketing seem to be spending most of their time and money on gaming the system rather than allowing the customer to choose what they are paying for.

[Ralph Okonieski]

I bought a turntable with painters pyramids on for all the great project finishes to be done. Never used it once.

There are a number of hand planes bought with the best of intentions but hardly touched wood. I hesitate to call it wasted money though as I like to look at them and dream.

[Jimmy Harris]

Brace and bits and a wooden smoothing plane. A hand drill is so much more convenient and a drill press is so much more accurate. And the wooden smoothing plane is just too hard to set up compared to a Stanley Bailey. They're fun to use, but not enough fun to justify their use.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I never wanted a "power hand saw". A shop-mate bought one. I tried in vain to find a use for it. It ranks high on my dud list.

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[Frederick Skelly]

Pocket hole jig. Used it exactly once.

[Warren Lake]

no specific tools just one brand. I have their old stuff and its good, US made.

[Patrick C Daugherty]

Patrick, most of the dowel plates are just too thin. Get a piece of scrap steel that is at least an inch thick, drill holes , champher.
If I need a good round dowel for strength and not really worried about looks, I can get the oak ones from the big box with a HQ in Wilksboro NC. For dowels that show I go real old fashioned and use a square dowel? of contrasting wood, sharpen the end and drive it home. I like the look. Haven't come across situation where I need both ends of the dowel to show yet.

[Jim Becker]

I've delayed putting a response in this thread for this long because it's hard to identify something that was a "waste" from the start. Sometimes, tools and fixtures that went unused did so because of an evolution of my shop and/or project requirements. One example of that was years ago, I went and bought a very nice Performax 22-44 drum sander. It sat basically unused. Why? The kinds of projects I was doing didn't have a need or fit with that particular tool. So I sold it and it's still working hard up in NE PA, to the best of my knowledge. Step forward a few years and I got into some new kinds of work and suddenly had a need for a drum sander to actually use. I got lucky and scored an SM 19-38 "used" (not) for not a lot of money in an estate sale. I use it more frequently than I expected based on how projects have evolved. And then there are tools that rarely are needed, but when they are the right tool...the Bosch 3x21 belt sander is an example of that. Rarely used, but...

I guess the one tool I can identify that was not a good purchase for me is/was a Freud edge banding setup. It's a nice tool...the current version from Rockler sells for $599...but it's seen little use over the years and when I do edgeband (a rare thing for me) I just use an iron. The edge bander was just collecting dust being stored and is currently on our garage floor to be sold in my next round of finally getting rid of excess stuff. (I sold the low hanging fruit of things I used for the shop build that will never be needed again, like the scaffold and big airless sprayer last week in the first round)

It's inevitable that there will be things that get acquired because they seemed like a good idea or were for a particular one time use. And in both cases, it's a good thing to unload them so they are not taking up space and not still hanging around someday when disposing of things is someone else's problem. ;)

[Cameron Wood]

The 123 set up blocks have not gotten any traction.

Long ago, I developed a strong desire for, & bought, a Japanese hatchet. Rarely used- it is ridiculously hard to sharpen, as the blade is over 1/2" thick where it starts the inch long bevels to the cutting edge. Using it means then having to sharpen it & the steel is very hard.

[Michael Burnside]

My sentiments match Jim’s. I’m not a packrat and so if I have something I’m not using, it goes bye bye. Over the years I’ve learned my workflow and what I enjoy doing, so I really don’t have anything that is a total paper weight.

Over 25 years ago I saved for a year to purchase a huge Craftsman socket set. At the time it was around 800 bucks. Maybe that was a waste since I’ve probably used less than 50% of the sockets? LOL.

[Steve Demuth]

I have the Grizzly knock-off of a Tormek wetstone sharpening system, and most of the (genuine) Tormek jigs that supposedly make it useful. I keep it around because I'm too lazy to sell it, but I hardly ever use it. Way too fussy and messy compared to grinding on a good bench grinder.

I also have one of the big orange, mostly plastic, Ridgid oscillating spindle sanders. Been years since I used it. I so rarely found it useful that I gave the bench space it occupied over to a different machine, and put the sander under the bench, so now I have to actually get it out and set it up to use it, and thus rather than being very rarely useful, it's never used, at least as designed. The rubber spindles and sanding sleeves are easily accessible in the storage space, and they make beautiful handheld sanders for inside curves and the like. The get used a lot for that.

Finally, in the hand tool category - my beautifully made Veritas scraping plane sits in my plane drawer, from which it is withdrawn for actual use less often than even the restored Stanley compass plane (which is very much a specialty tool, but I love it, and find a good use for it probably on average once a year). The scraper is the only plane I have every owned that I have not been able to get fettled and adjusted to the point where I can confidently use it for the purpose for which it was designed. I damaged essentially every piece I ever tried to finish with it, and after many attempts, have given up (or maybe not - some big flat surface will come calling in a future project, and maybe I'll convince myself to give it one more try).

[Rod Sheridan]

To paraphrase George Best, “I spent most of my money on tools, women and alcohol. The remainder I squandered”

I think that even tools that turned out to be less than stellar were part of my learning experiences so I consider them educational expenses.

Regards, Rod

[Ron Selzer]

Drill Doctor 750, ruined a complete 29 piece set of drills with it.
Ron

[Alan Lightstone]

Hollow chisel mortiser. Bought it, make a great swivel cart for it, bought nice chisels for it, and I think used in once.

[Jim Becker]

Hollow chisel mortiser. Bought it, make a great swivel cart for it, bought nice chisels for it, and I think used in once.
I resemble that remark... LOL, although not about the cart.

[Patty Hann]

Drill Doctor 750, ruined a complete 29 piece set of drills with it.
Ron
I have the DD 500X. It took me a little while, studying it to see exactly how to place the bit.
But once I figured it out (no destruction of bits was involved in the study) it worked just fine on twist bits.
I have never used it on my brad points.
.

[andrew whicker]

I think a lot of router table stuff falls into "kind of / sort of" a waste once you get a shaper. The router lift I bought is "good" and I thought fairly expensive (jess em) but it turned out to be pretty meh. I also got a huge (for a router) trim bit that I used like once and I'll never have to use again (shaper).

I try hard not to waste money. My worst purchase was a 3 stage fuji turbine. I bought it before I understood utah doesn't sell oil based paints without a paint booth sign off.

Upgraded to a 5 stg and I'm still trying to sell that stupid thing without losing half my money.

The F style clamps that are 12 inches sold at the box stores.. the ones that are light duty... don't buy those.

Those super cheap thin fold up sawhorses.. don't buy those either. (The joys of forgetting stuff when it's an hour one way to your shop from the job site).

I guess the last two are pretty obvious.

Another one as a kind of sort of not sure is my pin nailer. I'm not sure what to do with it. I was excited to get it for a project and then realized it had even less holding power than I expected.

[Jim Becker]

Another one as a kind of sort of not sure is my pin nailer. I'm not sure what to do with it. I was excited to get it for a project and then realized it had even less holding power than I expected.
They have no heads, so shot straight in, they don't have a lot of "holding" power. Now shoot them in at random angles and they are a lot more secure. I primarily use them for fastening thinner materials to something more stout and they hold fine until the glue dries. Small detail moldings also benefit from them as they don't split things easily like larger brads. They are then virtually invisible. the 23 gage pins are also great for temporary fixtures.

[stephen thomas]

I think a lot of router table stuff falls into "kind of / sort of" a waste once you get a shaper

I spent the first 50 years of my career without a router table.
Though i often modified hand routers including making rectangular bases for some & a trunnion tilt base for one.
Most were 70's era flat-top Milwaukee's; so when convenient, flip a suitable candidate upside down, clamp to a stable surface in the shop or on a job site, and bob's your uncle.

My second shaper (large, Griggio) came with a chuck for router bits so that obviated the need further, i would have imagined.

Then i started making weird furniture.
There was a more recent vintage Milwaukee hand router that i did not like, that also had a cam-loc arrangement for the base. A few years before, i had bought a Rockwell over & under-arm router because it was cheap at a garage sale. (Rockwell called it a pin router, but it was a poor excuse compared to my existing Onsrud) that was equally useless for most tasks. Then i miscegenated them and it became quite a useful machine. I use templates on the all-angle adjustable overarm to guide tall contour work against a collar or bearing on the router bit below in the table, keeping it dead vertical. The cam-loc router base with separate screw adjustment & spring loaded half-nut makes the router perfect to quickly drop out, put back in, and micro adjust.

[andrew whicker]

I spent the first 50 years of my career without a router table.
Though i often modified hand routers including making rectangular bases for some & a trunnion tilt base for one.
Most were 70's era flat-top Milwaukee's; so when convenient, flip a suitable candidate upside down, clamp to a stable surface in the shop or on a job site, and bob's your uncle.

My second shaper (large, Griggio) came with a chuck for router bits so that obviated the need further, i would have imagined.

Then i started making weird furniture.
There was a more recent vintage Milwaukee hand router that i did not like, that also had a cam-loc arrangement for the base. A few years before, i had bought a Rockwell over & under-arm router because it was cheap at a garage sale. (Rockwell called it a pin router, but it was a poor excuse compared to my existing Onsrud) that was equally useless for most tasks. Then i miscegenated them and it became quite a useful machine. I use templates on the all-angle adjustable overarm to guide tall contour work against a collar or bearing on the router bit below in the table, keeping it dead vertical. The cam-loc router base with separate screw adjustment & spring loaded half-nut makes the router perfect to quickly drop out, put back in, and micro adjust.

I think I'm going to need photos of this setup and photos of the weird furniture.

[stephen thomas]

I think I'm going to need photos of this setup and photos of the weird furniture.

Thank you for the interest! :)

Unfortunately, the last time i tried to link to my content on another site, i got censored and my fingers gently patted.

Here is a shot of a lady's desk.

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Wedge under leg is to compensate non-flat old dairy barn floor.
The legs are dead flat on my metal planer table, and the feet are actually adjustable to fine-tune solid placement on moderately un-flat residential floors.

outside curve pattern routing tongues with lower solid guide:

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Inside curve routing tongues with lower bearing pilot bit. (Steel square in photo is merely to balance/pose part so i could operate camera)

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smt

[Thomas McCurnin]

I don't buy a lot of new tools unless the project I have demands its use.

[Rich Engelhardt]

https://www.hvalleytools.com/product/v9061-mlcs-daisy-pin-router-attachments/router-accessories

It looked like it would be a lot of fun..... yeah - I sprung for both sizes of router bits too...one of these days I'll get around to mounting it on my router table.
It's on my list of things to do. Right along with mounting the Incra LS on ....something...

[Roger Feeley]

https://www.hvalleytools.com/product/v9061-mlcs-daisy-pin-router-attachments/router-accessories

It looked like it would be a lot of fun..... yeah - I sprung for both sizes of router bits too...one of these days I'll get around to mounting it on my router table.
It's on my list of things to do. Right along with mounting the Incra LS on ....something...
Have that pin router thing. I’ve only used it a few times but it really came in handy when I needed it.

[al ladd]

Then i miscegenated them and it became quite a useful machine.:)

Indeed, these can occasionally do things that are difficult to achieve any other way. I have a CNC router now that can do those otherwise-impossible tasks.

How did you do those amazing desk legs!!?

[Mike Ontko]

What are your misguided purchases that never get used?

Fortunately, I was able to sell my impulse buy to another wide-eyed newbie woodworker, though I didn't recoup all of what I'd spent.

Years ago, I bought a barely-used Leigh 24" dovetail jig that I'd found on Craigslist. It was the earlier D1258 model and even had the original documentation, so I felt it was worth investing the extra money to purchase a D4 upgrade kit along with additional dovetail bits and accessories. I must have spent over $350 USD but never used it. It just sat on the shelf waiting for my first big drawer project that still hasn't happened (it's been nearly 10-years)

[stephen thomas]

How did you do those amazing desk legs!!?

Thank you for the compliment!

Pin router.
Made an aluminum bar into a T-slot bed, to put a small dividing head and tailstock on it.

Like a 4th axis for your cnc, but it is all manual.

So instead of a "program" :) I added brackets to the T-slot base, to take plywood patterns for shape, to run on the pin router pin(s).
Have run similar on a shaper with collar or a bearing. Pin router is a little less nerve racking with the much smaller bit.

Made a number of years ago for other similar legs, that were differently shaped.
Will do reeds and coves, etc, too, of course, but bigger stuff i just do on a planer.

Can't find photos for later iteration of legs, but this older set is the same principle and tooling. Except 4 prongs/8 sided instead of 6 prongs/12 sided.
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